Wire-stretcher



(No Model.)

WIRE STRETGHER.

No. 559,265. Patented Apr. 28, 1896..

Zn K000222519.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN w. OOOMBE, or ROOHEPORT, ,MIssoURI.

WlRE-ST RETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 559,265, dated April 28, 1896.

Application filed February 19,1896. Serial No. 579,891. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN W. COOMBE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rocheport, in the county of Boone and State of Missouri, have invented new and useful Improvements in IVire-Stretchers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to wire-stretchers, and especially to that class of stretchers designed for stretching or straining the strands of wire fences and similar structures, and has for its object to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient implement of the nature described, by means of which the wire strands may be stretched or strained and be held in position temporarily while being permanently fastened in place. I

To these ends my invention consists in th features and in the combination or arrange ment of parts hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims following the description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved wire-stretcher; and Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof, illustrating the wire strand in its stretched or strained position.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates the body of my improved stretcher, provided at one end with a claw orbifurcated portion 2, adapted to engage a fence-post or the like. At a point 3 intermediate of the ends of the body 1 is pivoted a hand-lever 4, provided at one of its ends with a segmentalshaped face 5, struck eccentrically from the pivotal point of the lever. The segmentalshaped end of the lever 5 is adapted to coact with a fixed lug 6, rigidly secured to or forming a part of the clutch-bar 1. Pivoted to the hand-lever l at a point on the opposite side of the pivot 3 of the hand-lever 4 is a detent 7, and secured to the clutch-bar 2 is an areshaped guide 8, which serves to maintain the hand-lever and the detent in their proper relative positions to the clutch-bar while they are being oscillated to strain or release the wire strand.

In practice the clutch-bar is placed in the rear of the fence-post or the like, and the wire strand of the fence is inserted between the cam-face of the hand-lever and the lug on the clutch-bar. Then by swinging the implement rearwardly the wire is strained or stretched, and when so strained to its utmost limit by placing the detent 7 against the post it is held or maintained in its stretched position. As the detent 7 is pivoted to the handlever at a point opposite the clutch end of the latter, it necessarily follows that the strain produced by the tnsion of the wire aids in clutching the wire between the cam-face of the hand-lever and the lug on the clutch-bar and renders any slipping of the wire absolutely impossible. The pivot guard 8 not only acts as a guide to maintain the clutchbar and the hand-lever in parallelism, but also serves to hold the device in true horizontal position after the detent is thrown into action. By curving it, as shown, said guard will exert its effective force on both the handlever and detent throughout the extremes of movement of both of said parts and will prevent the moving parts of the device from being distorted or disarranged.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a wire-stretcher,the combination with a clutch-bar provided with a cam-faced lug, of a hand-lever pivoted to said clutch-bar and provided with a corresponding cam face adapted to cooperate with said cam faced lug to grasp a wire strand, and a detent pivoted to said hand-lever, substantially as described.

2. In a wire-stretcher,the combination with a clutch-bar provided with a cam-faced lug, of a hand-lever pivoted to said clutch-bar and having at its inner end a corresponding camfaee adapted to cooperate with said cam-faced lug to grasp a wire strand, and a detent pivoted to said hand-lever between the pivot and the outer end of the latter,'substantially as described.

' 3. Inawire-stretcl1er,the combination with a clutchbar provided with a cam-faced lug, of a hand-lever pivoted thereto and having a cam-face adapted to coact with said lug, a detent pivoted to said hand-lever and an arcshaped slotted guide embracing the handlever and said detent, substantially "as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' JOHN WV. COOMBE.

\Vitnesses:

W. G. ELLIOTT, En. BYERS. 

